The organisation which represents Scotland's councils is accusing all the main parties of feeding voters "little more than political junk food".

In a strongly worded statement, the president of Cosla, Pat Watters, said the electorate was being offered an "uninspiring menu".

He said their policies posed a threat to local government services.

The intervention by Cosla was aimed equally at all four of the main political parties.

It comes as councils across Scotland are facing tough spending decisions.

As the main parties outline their policies for the 5 May Scottish Parliament election, Mr Watters said: "I have to say that from what I have read and heard, the main parties are really offering the electorate little more than political junk food - options which are short term, unsatisfying and leave a bad taste.

"At the same time they have made it clear that they want to gorge themselves on our services.

Image caption
Scotland's councils are facing large cuts to the amount of money they have to spend

"What is being offered to the electorate is a fairly uninspiring menu that poses a threat to local government services, which we cannot allow."

The Scottish Tories, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Liberal Democrats have already published their manifestos and the SNP is due to reveal its later this week.

Mr Watters added: "Between them, the manifestos launched in the last week amount to a total of 216 pages, thousands of words that give no real solutions or answers.

"The bottom line is that once again Scotland's underlying social problems remain unanswered."

He went on: "There is no doubt that many national politicians from all four of the main political parties have already rushed to conclusions about the future of our public services - based on little more than the fact that they would be quick to implement, are easily understood and which can be portrayed as dynamic and articulated in sound bites.

"Cosla is not convinced by this approach and neither should the people of Scotland be."